I cover the cities of Andover, Blaine and Ramsey. I have worked at ABC Newspapers since August 2007.

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Discover Aviation Days this weekend in Blaine

Published May 29, 2013 at 1:25 pm

Discover Aviation Days at the Anoka County-Blaine Airport this Saturday and Sunday, June 1 and 2 is a great opportunity to see and learn about all kinds of aircraft.

Discover Aviation Days is this Saturday and Sunday, June 1 and 2 at the Anoka County-Blaine Airport. It features displays of a variety of aircraft, plane fly-overs, informational booths and seminars, a pancake breakfast and lunch and a Saturday evening hangar dance. File photo by Tim Hennagir

General, corporate, experimental, home-built, World War II fighters, trainers and bombers along with vintage and modern military aircraft will be on display. Fly-overs will take place a couple of different times each day.

Event organizer Craig Schiller said his favorite part of Discover Aviation Days is seeing the crowd. “It doesn’t matter if it’s kids or adults,” he said. “It’s exciting for me to see new people learning about different aspects of aviation.”

The event runs from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day and admission is free, although Schiller said donations are welcome to help the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Discover Aviation Days fund this annual event.

Visitors must enter the airport from the 93rd Lane and Airport Road entrance on the south side. Directions are available at www.discoveraviationdays.org.

New features to the popular two-day show will be at an educational tent on the south side of the airport that will include such vendors as University Avenue ACES Elementary School and the WCCO mobile weather vehicle, according to Schiller. Veterans from different eras will also be on-hand to share their stories.

A separate tent on the north side of the airport will be for seminars, Schiller said. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety seminars will be taking place at 9 and 10 a.m. each day. Astronaut Curt Brown will speak from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Four other speakers are scheduled for the two afternoons. More information is available at www.discoveraviationdays.org.

An evening hangar dance with 1940s swing band music performed by the Dave Andrews Big Band will be held from 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday night. Admission is $12 for adults and $8 for students. Kids 12 and under can go to the dance for free.

The “Miss Mitchell” World War II era B-25 bomber that served in the 310th Bomb Group, 57th Bomb Wing of the 12th Air Force in North Africa and Italy will be on display and available for flight. It completed over 130 missions during the second world war and never had any fatalities.

Those willing to pay $450 to $595 can ride on this plane. Email [email protected] or call 763-568-6072 if you would like to ride in this bomber.